My Audi Allroad 2.7T and ownership history

[carpetsoiler]

I've always had a soft spot for these. There are currently a couple in Sprint Blue (basically Nogaro Blue) on eBay, which is a tempting prospect.

Excellent quality, but watch long-term niggles. It's a lovely car to be in, and I'd very much like a 2.7TT at some stage. Be interesting to see how you get on.

[Resolutionary]

Sprint blue is just beautiful on these cars, even with the contrast bumpers. My long term plan is to either body-match the lowers or change the colour entirely (finance dependent!).

I'm still staggered by the build quality on these things - my old B5 developed a host of cabin rattles when I brought it to our London roads from Exeter, where as this remains solid and silent. Hopefully the work being carried out next Friday will negate any of the niggles that can so easily plague a 2.7T! I will of course update this thread as the progress continues

[LeoSayer]

Hallsy01 said:

On the subject of mpg, how bad is bad? Mid 20's or worse? Auto or manual?

In my experience of running a 2002 A6 2.7T auto for 5 years:

28mpg is the best I ever got from a tank
23mpg is the norm for out of town driving
17mpg from urban driving

[AGee]

Good work! Out of interest, what paint did you use for the rollering on your old Audi?

[Resolutionary]

I'd tend to agree with LeoSayer on the topic of mpg, ideally I should get one of those mobile apps as I've heard they're uber accurate compared to the trip computer. That said, I didn't purchase this car based on economy so I'm not really bothered!

AGee said:

Good work! Out of interest, what paint did you use for the rollering on your old Audi?

I used a specially mixed automotive paint for the purple (sourced at LE Went, New Malden);for the matt black I bought a tin of army vehicle paint from eBay, and the white was achieved using Wickes home brand primer. Oh and Halfords spray paint for the camo. Literally couldn't have been more of a cheapskate I've gotta say though, using a paint roller on a car is seriously fun!

[y2blade]

Following with interest, I have the B5 S4 Avant and love it to bits....prob going to get my OH a 2.7 BiTurbo Allroad once her S60 D5 needs replacing.


They sound good don't they, mega engine....so strong.

[Resolutionary]

Update: I picked up the car this morning after it's stay with Tuning Werkes over the weekend; my leaky rocker cover gaskets have been replaced for genuine Audi parts, it's been thoroughly serviced (all fluids, filters, plugs), and it's also had a general health check. They're very happy with it, as am I now

One thing Reuben did say was that my air suspension compressor is running as it should, so he didn't carry out the refurbishment using BagPipingAndy's machined parts. I still have the kit and may revisit this job in the near future.

y2blade I'm instantly jealous - the B5 chassis is probably my all time favourite car, especially in S4 / RS4 guise. So well proportioned and understated. Love the 2.7T, my god it pulls. Can't wait to begin tuning!

[y2blade]

Resolutionary said:

y2blade I'm instantly jealous - the B5 chassis is probably my all time favourite car, especially in S4 / RS4 guise. So well proportioned and understated. Love the 2.7T, my god it pulls. Can't wait to begin tuning!

Thanks, I look forward to hearing how you get on with the 2.7T...my sister has a late 2.5 TDI Allroad, lovely car.

btw this is my S4 thread (if you want to have a read) : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Resolutionary]

y2blade said:

Thanks, I look forward to hearing how you get on with the 2.7T...my sister has a late 2.5 TDI Allroad, lovely car.

btw this is my S4 thread (if you want to have a read) : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

So far I love it, and since the recent health check it's even more of a joy to drive. Couldn't bring myself to go for a diesel though, not just yet!

I'm quite familiar with your thread - in fact after reading through it the first time I priced up a Milltek cat-back. The sound is immense! Yours really is a lovely example. Due to the system configuration on Allroads I need two tailpipes and an x-pipe so all in I'm looking at circa £900 excluding fitting

[billywhizzzzzz]

We too have an old (52 plate) Allroad 2.7T and I love it. I can't think what we'd get to replace it - glorious creamy V6, 6 speed box and compliant suspension. We run it on Pirelli All Seasons and it is the most sure footed car I've ever driven on greasy and wet rural British B roads and lanes. I particularly love the compliance of the suspension (when compared with almost every other car I've had and also my current Z4m (which is glorious in other ways)). I've done the compressor refresh and it's in at the moment having the 2 rear airbags done. It's still only done 75,000 miles so hopefully a little life in it yet.

[Resolutionary]

billywhizzzzzz said:

We too have an old (52 plate) Allroad 2.7T and I love it. I can't think what we'd get to replace it - glorious creamy V6, 6 speed box and compliant suspension. We run it on Pirelli All Seasons and it is the most sure footed car I've ever driven on greasy and wet rural British B roads and lanes. I particularly love the compliance of the suspension (when compared with almost every other car I've had and also my current Z4m (which is glorious in other ways)). I've done the compressor refresh and it's in at the moment having the 2 rear airbags done. It's still only done 75,000 miles so hopefully a little life in it yet.

Nice! I'm slightly jealous you have the 6sp, I only opted for this 5sp tiptronic example as it was silly cheap and it's still amazing so I would imagine a manual transmission is utterly brilliant!

I'm running Allroad-specific Pirelli P6 tyres at the moment (came with the car) but I'm looking at upgrading the wheels soon so will keep your recommendation in mind. At 75k miles I'd expect you have tens of thousands left in it, mine recently breached 100k and still going strong as ever.

With regard to the compressor refurb, did you purchase the same kit from BagPipingAndy? I've yet to fit mine but it's on the ever growing list

[billywhizzzzzz]

Resolutionary said:

With regard to the compressor refurb, did you purchase the same kit from BagPipingAndy? I've yet to fit mine but it's on the ever growing list

Yes did his compressor refresh kit too. And the 6 speed really suits the car. Same colour and spec as yours, just with a manual... Now I've done the brakes, air springs, compressor and had a recent service by a specialist, I'm hoping it does have a few more left as more than anything, there's nothing to replace it. The newer one is less compliant, and I don't think comes with a manual and 6 cyl petrol.

[Resolutionary]

As long as you take care of what I like to call 'preventative maintenance', these cars should be fine. I recently had a rocker-cover oil leak which was rectified by a specialist and while it was in they did a full inspection and service so fingers crossed for another year of hassle free motoring.

So true about a replacement car - I literally cannot think of another vehicle that is as well-rounded as the C5 petrol Allroad. And you're right; apart from the rare-as-hens-teeth 3.2 V6 Quattro (C6 I believe) there are only diesel options available and, quite frankly, no thanks. Audi certainly don't make cars like they used to!

[Resolutionary]

Finally, some updates!

It's been a few months since my last post and I've been busy doing yet more maintenance. As this is my daily its been racking up the miles (12k in the last 9 months!) so I can now make some genuine conclusions on how the car is to live with.

It's still an absolute joy, and a beast when required. Last month I went with a friend to pick up his E39 M5 and the drive back was.. spirited shall we say!



Since I picked it up there was an unsightly scuff on the offside front bumper and arch extension:




I visited a local repair garage, OSC Body Repairs in Chessington, who did an amazing job matching the colour on the satin finished grey bumpers, so much so that I may get them to tidy up the rest and darken some of the chrome / brightwork in the coming months too. All for £160!

Another annoyance has always been one cloudy headlight lens cover (offside, again):



I treated it using a Meguiars Headlight Restoration Kit - wonderfully easy to use and has brought the lens cover back to total transparency. All for £20, compared to at least £150 for a second-hand / new non-genuine replacement!

Then I took the car back down to Tuning Werkes in Croydon for a full service, fluid change and BMC panel filter, plus a suspension and engine check. It was then established that my front lower and upper arm bushes were badly perished and in need of replacement so I'm currently hunting for an OEM Allroad-specific set (as A6 kits are too short).

Then.. I was pulled over. Very badly worn rear tyres (which I was warned about by Reuben before leaving TW) with around 1mm tread out back and 2(ish)mm up front. Got lucky, but vowed to sort them out asap.

I've always loved the look of Rota Grids, and never liked the original 5 spoke 2-piece 17" rims that came with the car. These were mated to a specifically designed Pirelli P6 Allroad tyre which I found out was discontinued in the last few years, so decided to get some upgrades.

Stock setup: 17 x 7.5J, ET25, 225/55/17
New setup: 18 x 9.5J, ET20, 255/45/18

I'd done my research and thought the new setup would be a direct fit - not the case. The rears needed at least 10mm to clear the airbags, which I could accomodate with some old 20mm hubcentric spacers I used on my B5. The fronts were about 1mm from the upright when stationary:



I had no other spacers to use up at the time, so I had to ride on level 3 until the new H&R 15mm hubcentrics arrived this morning.



They're now on, and the Allroad now sits like this on level 1:










Finat setup: 18 x 9.5J, 255/45/18, F: ET5, R: ET0

To do:

- Replace front suspension components
- Replace cam seals (leaking oil slightly)
- 710N diverter valves
- EBC disks and pads front and rear
- 402 mod: 15mm all round
- Compressor refurb
- RS6 spoiler
- Colour coded / darkened brightwork
- Longlife stainless steel cat-back (for now..!)
- Remap

Overall still very happy with the car - it continues to impress in both speed and comfort departments. Hopefully once running perfectly and mapped it should be twice as much fun!

Thanks for reading!

[S10GTA]

Good thread but I'm not sure how to say this nicely, so I won't try.

Those wheels are bloody awful.

Sorry

[rangie999]

I tend to agree....the new wheels don't llok so good.

I had some some trouble finding Pirelli Allroads recently but they are still available in Europe without a huge amount of hassle......plus the exchange rate makes them nearly affordable!

[ManOpener]

I'm going to buck the trend and say I quite like the wheels, just not in black.

[MrBarry123]

Big fan of the wheels - look nice and beefy, suiting the car!

[guitarcarfanatic]

Love the car - wheels i'm not sure on! But I tend to keep things standard.

Random question - Are you allowed tyres wider than the arches?

[Resolutionary]

I knew the wheels would be a bit marmite but I absolutely love them, in my opinion they suit the offroad style almost as well as they suit the Japanese coupe scene! Also please consider the fact that the original 7.5J rims gave me little confidence in the bends, and are rotten / flaky throughout - pretty much anything else is an improvement.

I chose flat black as it's the closest Rota colour option to the original bumper shade / finish. Not to everyones tastes, I know, but I'm unsure on the long-term plans for the body / lowers so I thought black would be a failsafe option for now.

guitarcarfanatic - UK legislation doesn't allow for wheels to poke out from the fenders but these cars sit quite high as standard; the wheels are in fact only about 2-3mm out all round so I'm not particularly concerned for anything other that potentially curbing a rim! As MrBarry123 said, Allroads are already beefy and I think these alloys compliment the body style 10 fold.

Thanks for the feedback folks - hopefully many more updates in due course!

Edited by Resolutionary on Thursday 2nd April 11:58